50 Fun Facts About Leicester City

Leicester City were founded in 1884 under what name, taken from the road where they first played?

Fosse came from the field beside Fosse Road where the club first played. After money troubles it was re-formed in 1919 as Leicester City, just as Leicester was granted city status.

Leicester's record victory, 13-0 in an FA Cup qualifier in 1894-95, came against which club?

Notts Olympic were beaten 13-0 in October 1894, in the very season that Leicester began life in the Football League by losing their first match 4-3 at Grimsby Town.

Which rival club inflicted Leicester's record defeat, a 12-0 league thrashing in April 1909?

Nottingham Forest won so easily that the Football League held an inquiry, which heard that the already relegated Leicester players had spent the previous day at a former team-mate's wedding.

In 1928-29 Leicester finished First Division runners-up by a single point to which club?

The Wednesday, as Sheffield Wednesday were then known, had only just escaped relegation a year earlier. Second place stayed Leicester's best finish until the 2016 title.

Leicester's first FA Cup final, in 1949, ended in a 3-1 defeat to which club?

Wolverhampton Wanderers won 3-1 at Wembley, and a week later Leicester needed a last-day draw to stay in the Second Division by a single point.

Which striker, English league football's record scorer, hit a club-record 44 goals for Leicester in 1956-57?

Arthur Rowley hit his 44 in 42 league games, yet a year later Leicester let him leave for Shrewsbury Town as player-manager, where he took his career total to a record 434 league goals.

Leicester's 1962-63 side earned the nickname 'the Ice Kings' for what?

Their form on frozen pitches in the Big Freeze of 1962-63 took them top of the First Division and to the FA Cup final, but the double chase melted away into fourth place and defeat at Wembley.

Leicester's first major trophy, the 1964 League Cup, was won 4-3 on aggregate over which club?

Stoke City lost 4-3 over two legs to a Leicester side with Gordon Banks in goal. Three years later Leicester sold the World Cup winner to Stoke.

Leicester lost the 1961 FA Cup final yet played in Europe because winners Tottenham had done what?

Won the League and Cup double, so champions Tottenham went into the European Cup and beaten finalists Leicester took England's Cup Winners' Cup place, their first European campaign.

Which manager, later hired by Manchester United, led relegated Leicester to the 1969 FA Cup final?

Frank O'Farrell lost that final 1-0 to Manchester City and went down, but winning the Second Division title in 1971 earned him the Manchester United job.

Double winners Arsenal skipped the 1971 Charity Shield, so second-tier champions Leicester beat which FA Cup runners-up 1-0?

Liverpool lost to a tap-in from right-back Steve Whitworth, the only goal he scored in more than 350 games for Leicester.

Which Scottish manager, twice a treble winner with Rangers, led Leicester to the 1980 Second Division title?

Jock Wallace followed the title with an audacious bid to sign Johan Cruyff in January 1981, but three weeks of talks came to nothing.

Which club bought Gary Lineker from Leicester in 1985?

Everton, the reigning champions, got 40 goals from Lineker in his only season at Goodison Park before selling him on to Barcelona after the 1986 World Cup.

Which former Leicester striker's penalty beat Leicester in the 1992 play-off final for a Premier League place?

Mike Newell scored for Blackburn after David Speedie went down under Steve Walsh's challenge, then had a second penalty saved by Carl Muggleton late on.

Brian Little quit Leicester in November 1994 to manage which club?

Aston Villa was the club where Little had spent his whole playing career. He resigned at Leicester the same month Villa sacked Ron Atkinson, and won the League Cup with them in 1996.

Martin O'Neill's Leicester ended a 33-year trophy wait in 1997 by beating which club in a League Cup final replay?

Middlesbrough led at Wembley until Emile Heskey equalised late in extra time, and Steve Claridge's extra-time goal won the replay at Hillsborough 1-0.

Which Leicester player scored the last ever goal at Filbert Street, in May 2002?

Matt Piper, a 20-year-old academy winger, hit the winner in a 2-1 farewell after 111 years at the ground. It was his first Leicester goal, and the relegated club sold him to Sunderland that summer.

Which Leicester-based company held the naming rights to the new stadium from 2002 until 2011?

Walkers, the crisp maker, nearly had its name on the 'Walkers Bowl', but that title was scrapped after fans complained and the ground opened as the Walkers Stadium.

Leicester's 2003 promotion after entering administration led the Football League to bring in which penalty?

Ten-point deduction: the automatic penalty for entering administration was agreed in September 2003, so that nobody could repeat Leicester's feat of shedding debts of about £30m and still going up.

Which manager lasted only four matches at Leicester in 2007 after falling out with owner Milan Mandarić?

Martin Allen left by mutual consent on 29 August 2007, three months after being hired. Leicester used three permanent managers that season and dropped into the third tier for the first time.

How did Leicester's first season in the third tier, 2008-09, end?

As champions with two games to spare, clinched by a 2-0 win at Southend under Nigel Pearson. Seven years later Leicester were champions of England.

King Power, whose owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha bought Leicester in 2010, is what kind of business?

A Thai duty-free retailer, King Power grew from one Bangkok shop in 1989 into a near-monopoly at Thailand's airports, and its profits bankrolled Leicester through owner loans of more than £100m.

Which former England manager was appointed by Leicester in October 2010 and left a year later?

Sven-Göran Eriksson arrived nine days after a 6-1 defeat at Portsmouth left Leicester in the Championship's relegation zone, and left a year later after the promotion favourites won only five of their first 13 league games.

What Premier League first did Leicester achieve by beating Manchester United 5-3 in 2014?

Come back from two goals down to win: United led 3-1 after an hour, then Leicester scored four times in 21 minutes, two of them penalties.

Which summer signing was voted Leicester's Player of the Year in their 2015 great escape season?

Esteban Cambiasso, a Champions League winner with Inter, joined on a free transfer at 34. Leicester were bottom with 19 points from 29 games, then won seven of their last nine to stay up.

Leicester sacked Nigel Pearson weeks after the 2015 great escape, in the fallout from what?

A players' tour scandal: the club said only that the working relationship was 'no longer viable', having already sacked three young players, the manager's son James among them, over a video made on a goodwill tour of Thailand.

Whose Premier League record did Jamie Vardy break in 2015 by scoring in 11 consecutive matches?

Ruud van Nistelrooy's run of 10 fell when Vardy scored against Manchester United, the Dutchman's old club. Nine years later Van Nistelrooy became Vardy's manager at Leicester.

Leicester's 2016 title was sealed when Tottenham let a 2-0 lead slip in a match nicknamed what?

The Battle of the Bridge ended 2-2 after Eden Hazard's late equaliser, with a record nine Tottenham players booked as their title chase fell apart.

What pre-season odds did bookmakers offer on Leicester winning the 2015-16 Premier League?

5,000-1 was the opening price, and when Leicester won the title Britain's bookmakers were left paying out an estimated £25 million.

Which Spanish club did Leicester beat 3-2 on aggregate in the 2016-17 Champions League last 16?

Sevilla won the first leg 2-1 despite a Kasper Schmeichel penalty save. Leicester sacked Claudio Ranieri the next day, then won the return 2-0 to reach the quarter-finals.

Which assistant took charge when Leicester sacked title-winning manager Claudio Ranieri in February 2017?

Craig Shakespeare inherited a team one point above the relegation zone, nine months after the title, and won his first match 3-1 against Liverpool on the way to 12th place.

Leicester owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha died in 2018 when his helicopter crashed seconds after taking off from where?

The stadium pitch was where the helicopter collected him after a match against West Ham. It came down in a car park outside, killing all five on board, and a memorial garden now stands on the site.

Where did Leicester win 9-0 in October 2019, the biggest away win in top-flight history?

St Mary's, Southampton, saw Leicester lead 5-0 at half-time, with hat-tricks to come for Ayoze Pérez and Jamie Vardy. The beaten players and coaches gave that day's wages to charity.

Who scored the only goal when Leicester finally won the FA Cup in 2021, at the fifth attempt?

Youri Tielemans struck from distance midway through the second half, and a late equaliser was ruled out by VAR for offside against former Leicester defender Ben Chilwell.

Leicester's first European semi-final, in 2021-22, was in which competition?

The Europa Conference League was in its first season, and Leicester only dropped into it after finishing third in their Europa League group. They lost the semi-final to eventual winners Roma.

Before Leicester in 2023, who were the only former Premier League champions to be relegated?

Blackburn Rovers went down in 1999, four years after their title. Roy Hodgson left with the team bottom, and Brian Kidd, hired from Manchester United's coaching staff, could not save them.

Which club did Enzo Maresca leave Leicester to join in June 2024?

Chelsea hired Maresca weeks after he took Leicester up as Championship winners. He won the Conference League and the Club World Cup with them in 2025.

Which unwanted first in English football did Leicester set in 2024-25?

Lose nine straight home games without scoring: the run began after a 2-2 draw with Brighton on 8 December, and the ninth defeat, 1-0 to Liverpool on 20 April, relegated them with five games to play.

Punished for overspending in 2026, how did Leicester's season end?

Relegation to League One: the mid-season penalty dropped Leicester from 17th to 20th, and a 2-2 draw with Hull in April sent them into the third tier, ten years after they won the Premier League.

The fox's head on Leicester's badge sits on a cinquefoil, which represents what?

The city's coat of arms carries the cinquefoil, the emblem of the first Earl of Leicester. The fox, first worn on the shirts in 1948, nods to Leicestershire's fox-hunting tradition.

Which tune is played at Leicester home matches to bring the teams onto the pitch?

The Post Horn Galop is not a nod to fox hunting, as many assume. It recalls the horn that mail-coach drivers sounded to clear the road, and Leicester were using it before a fox ever appeared on the crest.

Which singer serenaded the crowd before Leicester were presented with the Premier League trophy in 2016?

Andrea Bocelli had phoned his fellow Italian Claudio Ranieri weeks earlier and offered to sing at the title party. He kept the promise with 'Nessun dorma', taking off his jacket to reveal a Leicester shirt.

What was Filbert Street's South Stand, opened in 1927, nicknamed?

The Double Decker towered over the south end from 1927 until the ground closed in 2002. Within a year of its opening, Filbert Street drew its record crowd of 47,298 for an FA Cup tie.

The first match at Leicester's new stadium in 2002 was a 1-1 friendly against which Spanish club?

Athletic Bilbao spoiled the housewarming: their midfielder Tiko scored the first goal at the ground before Jordan Stewart equalised for Leicester.

Leicester's all-time record goalscorer, with 273 goals in 12 years, is who?

Arthur Chandler scored six of them in one afternoon, a 10-0 win over Portsmouth in 1928. Club legend has it that a swan flew over Filbert Street for each goal.

Leicester's fastest ever goal, after 9 seconds against Preston in 2006, was scored by whom?

Matty Fryatt slid in a cross after nine seconds at home, yet Leicester still lost 2-1 as Preston came from behind to secure a play-off place.

Manchester United's roughly £80 million for Harry Maguire in 2019 was a world record for what?

A defender: the fee beat the £75m Liverpool paid for Virgil van Dijk, and gave Leicester a vast profit on a player signed from Hull for an initial £12m two years earlier.

Which teenage goalkeeper's rise persuaded Leicester to sell World Cup winner Gordon Banks in 1967?

Peter Shilton, 17, is said to have told the board he would leave unless he played, so Leicester sold Banks within a year of the World Cup final. Shilton went on to win a men's record 125 England caps.

Jamie Vardy was the football writers' choice in 2016, but which Leicester team-mate won the players' PFA award?

Riyad Mahrez, bought from French second-tier club Le Havre for about £450,000, was the first African to win the award. Two years later Leicester sold him to Manchester City for £60m.

In which Leicestershire village did Leicester open their new training ground in December 2020?

Seagrave's complex was built on the site of the village golf club. The old Belvoir Drive base in the city did not close: it passed to Leicester City Women.